ASS4 - Project Areas of illustration

A Children's Book Cover

Brief and Ideas

      For this exercise I am creating a children's book cover for the theme of natural history, to explore all animals around the world. I am excited about this exercise as I feel this is right up my street on what I want to do.

  Firstly I need to think of ideas and brainstorm animals and layouts that I can think of. Also, need to write down the main brief aims so that I can see what I need to do to accomplish a good children's book cover.

    Now that I have brainstormed I have picked out certain animals that are endangered and a few ideas how to show animals around the world I like the idea of drawing the animals around the Earth or an illustration of all the animals of different types in a group together on the cover.

I have created a board on Pinterest of images that I discovered, which I think will help to inspire me for my own ideas of an animal children's book. Please follow the link below:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/GemmaMlees/animals-around-the-world-book-ideas/

 I shall now start drawing my ideas to see what I can come up with:

   Above are my ideas. I sketched out some of my ideas I was interested in, such as the group of animals and the animals walking around the world, I tried turning with the Earth into a butterfly for the front cover but then I felt that it needs to have more animals than just one type.

    I also tried using the word animals and creating animals from each letter this works well and this would be good as a children's book cover idea.

     I did however really like the idea of the animals around the world. However I think that instead of them walking around the world I want them all holding onto it which would show how they depend on each other, I am now going to draw out my idea. I have thought about and I would like to create this front cover as one of my paper illustration Styles, as I think it would make it unique and different to what people have seen on book covers.

     Here above is my final illustration idea. I like how the animals are around the Earth, I feel it gives a good presentation of the book. I made the planet Earth out of paper and also cut the characters out to stick them around the world to see roughly how many characters I need.

    I have chosen that animals that I think other most popular but when I come to do the proper image I may need to add more as I'm going to do it on a bigger scale I also like the idea of having leaves around the corners of the page as kind of as a frame and border to the planet with the animals around.

The Making of the illustration

     I am now going to attempt my children's book cover. I have gathered loads of different coloured pieces of paper, glue, sticky tabs, pencils and pens to add detail on. I will start with cutting out the world and then start putting the animals around it. I need to think of keeping proportions of animals correct as I go along, I will look at this whilst I am creating them next to each other to get the sizes correct.

Below: Cutting out basic shapes with a scalpel knife and knife board.

     Above you can see that I have started my idea and is going well. I've used my scalpel knife to cut out the shapes of the Earth and animals. For the animals, I am using double sided sticky tabs to create a 3D/2D effect of the animals by using layers. I am hoping that the natural Shadows will create depth into my illustration further. Looking at the photo above I have just taken the natural shadows are working well.

Above: Close up of the cutting of crocodiles head. you can see pencil marks here but will be rubbing them out once I am happy with it.

Above: Added shark, Crocodile, Panda and Ant-eater, With the Panda I wanted to create a fur effect so using my scalpel I experimented and scratched the surface of the paper which made the paper bitty which ended up looking like fur. A Great technique for me to keep in mind for future ideas.

   Above is again the further development of my animals all Around the World. It is turning out better than I expected as this is the biggest paper illustration I have done so far which is a great challenge.

    I decided to add an orangutan as I felt he is a really endangered animal and is important to the animal world.

Below are some close ups so you can grasp my 3D effect:

   Above: Just behind the Lions face you can see one of the sticky tabs I have lifted his face slightly so you could see this to grasp how I am achieving my 3D technique. I have also used pencils and crayons, to add further detail on to the paper.

The above is a close-up of the giraffe this is a good example of seeing the natural Shadows to create depth which I wanted in my illustration.

     I have now gone round the Earth and finished putting on all my animals around the earth I am so excited about this project and feel that this to date is my biggest experiment of using my 3D paper Style. Now that I have finished the animals around the earth and added detail I now want to add the leaves on the corners of the page to create a border  I feel that this will bring the cover together and I am excited to put my final added detail on the front.

    Here in the photo above, you can see I have started the border. I felt that using a branch would also help frame the image in the middle. I am really excited and I think this is going to look great. I think visually this is going to look very attractive and the composition will help catch viewers eyes to the cover. I am now going to add further detail on and also finish the cover off by adding insects on to the leaves.

    As you can see, I have added the insects and the leaves to finish the border I am really really happy with my outcome. I still feel that the branch areas are missing something so I have decided that I'm going to put ants running up and down them carrying the odds leaf just to finish it off and I think I will be happier with it then.

    Here below is the final illustration I have created, I feel I have put a lot of hard work and effort into this illustration and have created a great piece of work which is unique to me with my style of 3D paper. I enjoy creating layers and capturing natural Shadows. I have also taken photos of it outside in my back garden so you can grasp the 3D textures in my art better below:

     As you can see my 3D layers work and it looks so interesting to look at you can see that it has taken me a good few days to create this piece of work. The next step now is to take a good photo and put it into Photoshop, there I will tidy some areas up and add the text all about animals onto my illustration. The text I will be put it on the Earth in the middle of the book. I want a chunky fun font that captures people's attention and goes well with the illustration. I am going to use white as the colour of the font to make it stand out on the Earth.

Here above are some examples I tried out. The last one is my favourite idea and by using bolder words such as animals and the world really works and helps show the understanding of what the book is about. I feel like I have nearly finished. The next thing I would like to try now is to edit the brightness contrast and tone and try to make the Shadows stick out a bit more with the help of Photoshop.

Here below is my final outcome:

     Whilst doing this exercise I have felt it is pushed me with my 3D illustration Style. I feel I have captured what the brief asked and created a wonderful illustration that really catches your eye. I love the colours I have used and my final editing in Photoshop helped enhance the Shadows further. It's brighter and there is a lot to look at which makes it really interesting.

     I am glad I have spent quite a bit of time on me to show that my 3D 2D illustration work really well for children's illustration my favourite animals are the lion, the Giraffe and the cheetah. I enjoyed doing those the most I think the ants on the branches really set off the border to the earth with the animals around,

   Overall I feel like I have surpassed myself and I can feel myself getting stronger and building more confidence into my work which is fantastic!This course has really helped me to evolve and I am really enjoying every exercise.

A  Menu

    This next exercise I am going to create a logo for a menu for a fish restaurant they also want to use it to advertise on their vans when going around the area. To advertise the business, first of all, I am going to look on Pinterest and find images that relate to this exercise please find the link below:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/GemmaMlees/fish-resturant-ass-4/

    Now that I have looked on Pinterest, I am going to create a few spider diagrams and decide on my ideas and what I think would be suitable for this task.

     Here above you can see my spider diagrams and some quick simple sketches of ideas that I came up with. I like the idea of using an anchor and also a fish character holding a Titan which are both easy to understand. They both symbolise the Sea and are good ideas for a fish restaurant.

    I am now going to look at my ideas and sketch out with colour, two of my ideas that I think would be good for the restaurant.

I have now done my 2 images see below:

    Above is my anchor design it involves an anchor with rope and on the sharp points of the anchor I have put fish on the ends. I think this is a good symbol for a restaurant I have also experimented with colours to try and get a good idea of what would suit best.

Below is my next idea which is a king Titan fish character holding a Titan with a crown on his head.

     I think this is also a great idea and people understand the meaning when looking at the illustration of what type of restaurant it is. This would be great for a chain of restaurants and is also fun to look at.

 After testing these two out I have decided to use the Fish king for my Illustration. I am now going to use my paper style to create a 3D image to uses as the logo.

My paper fish image:

       As you can see above I have had to work out my paper layers for it to become 3d illustration. I think the scrunched up paper as the background creates a great texture, which makes my character stand out more. I am happy with my fish but now need to edit it in photoshop to get it how I want it to look.

  Above -  I tweaked the tones and contrasts to get more depth into my photo of my illustration. I think this has worked well and my character is now looking more detailed now you can see the textures of the paper on his body.

     I am now going to play around in photoshop to create my final design. In my mind, I would like to see bubbles around him with the name of the restaurant and maybe put a year since the restaurant started to show their value of experience in cooking fish food. 

     This is my final image for my fish restaurant menu logo and logo to go on the vans. I think it is very vibrant and catches the eye. I also think it portrays that it is a fish restaurant with experience and well know for its tasty fish. I think I have done well here creating a logo that people will know what the place they are sitting in is about and entice them to want to eat fish food.

I really like my idea and it was a good exercise to see how my 3d paper style would suit logos for companies.

A Tattoo and Greeting Card

     I have been looking forward. The brief is to create a tattoo for someone for their mother but also use it as a greeting card to give to their mum.I am now going to do a spidergram a few ideas and again look on Pinterest which you will find the link below:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/GemmaMlees/mom-tatto-ass-4/

Above is a quick idea page. I am now going to create some designs and just see what I come up with for the tattoo:

I have drawn a few above and I think I have some simple styles that I thought would be suitable. I really like the idea of using a bird holding a scroll with the word mum on it.

     I have decided for my tattoo that the bird idea is the way forward. I am now going to sketch out another idea I have using a bird and see if I can create a good tattoo illustration.

   Here above is my tattoo illustration, as you can see I used the bird and implemented a heart into the design. I think this is a great design for a female to show appreciation for their mother. I am happy with my result and I am now going to use this design to create a greeting card. The greeting card is going to be again using my 3D paper Style to create depth and an interesting image for a greeting card.

   Above I have started cutting out the shapes to form the design of my tattoo. For the greeting card, I am now going to start adding detail and maybe some stars around the design to finish it off.

   This above is my final design, I have put the layers together which looks interesting and also used gold silver and pink posca pens to add details.

    This tattoo exercise was a great experiment to show I could use a flat image and create a 3D illustration design for a greetings card. I think it creates a great design for someone to have to celebrate their mother.

     The finished greeting card looks fantastic also and I have merged the tattoo into the card design well and it no longer looks like a tattoo but a cute pretty card to give to your mum.

     Overall, I have really enjoyed these three experiments.my favourite one was the book cover this helped my style open up and push me further than I ever have. The menu illustration was a good way to understand a brief and give the restaurant an image it wants to portray. The tattoo and greeting card exercise was fun and interesting to see how one idea can transform into another. I am feeling inspired and looking forward to the next project.